Better Angels
by Bootzie2
Summary: Victoria thought that everything would get better after the war. She was wrong. Victoria will turn into her worst nightmare and her friends and family will have to make the ultimate decision. Along with the most powerful immortals of all time, angels, and the combined forces of the Greek and Roman camps these heroes will be in the battle of a lifetime.
1. Prologue

Though these characters and places may not be of my own imagination the story is.

I was inspired to write Better Angels because it is the title of a poem that a friend wrote that assured us that we can overcome even the most difficult of hardships.

Better Angels

by

Hannah Terjeson

The darkness used to call me it's own

I used to walk this earth alone

I used to wait in these long shadows

To see what came after when the world fell.

I fell with it

But I am not afraid anymore

And I am not alone

They told us we were Angels

Better than we used to be

Hold our heads high and wait

for our time.

We are all Angels

Better than we used to be.

**"****Does this darkness have a name? This cruelty, This hatred,How did it find us? Did it steal into our lives or did we seek it out and embrace it? What happened to us that we now send our children into the world like we send young men to war, hoping for their safe return, but knowing that some would be lost along the way. When did we lose our way? Consumed by the shadows. Swallowed whole by the darkness. Does this darkness have a name? Is it your name?" Lucas Scott from One Tree Hill Episode With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We slept.**

Prelude

Unknown

It's been been more than a year since the defeat of the Titans and Valentine. The Nephilim, demigods, and the world are in for a fight unlike they could have ever imagined. The year is now 2008 and our heroes have begun their separate battles against evil. Little do they know that these two evils shall become one. Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern (Sebastian) had awaken Gaea and joined forces with her and together they will bring hell to Earth. Our heroes will join forces with beings much older than they can imagine, but younger than Gaea. Together can they take on the armies of hell? Can Heaven overcome Hell? A Hell much different than the one they fought before.

**Prologue**

**Ariel**

The silence is overwhelming as you wait to be called in. As you wait for the end of something so terrifying that you find that you yourself cannot face it. The end is not what you think it is. It is not death. It is not a never ending night that is utterly and completely black, and it is not the blackness of nothingness. It is something that is much worse. It was dark, cold, and filled with a foul smell that I could not identify. Hell is strange. Most humans would expect fiery pits and a little man with a pitch fork. The fiery pits are true, but hell is not just fire. It is the end.

I don't belong in Hell or The End. Whichever you would like to call it. Then End is simply more suiting for me. As I was saying I don't belong here at all. Get it humans. I am not Death, Satan, or the Grim Reaper though it may sound like it now. I'm Ariel. The Lion of God, Commander of the Avenging Angels, as well as an Archangel. Then I was appointed as the angel of music after Lucifer fell and recently the Angel of Death. Okay don't run off and scream in terror. Yes I am the Angel of Death, but no I do not wait by your bedside for you to die. All right maybe I sometimes do, but that's not the point. I don't kill people I merely take the dearly departed souls to be judged. No matter how I put it you're still going to freak out.

Our former Angel of Death Azrael was cast out to the end for conspiring with the former prince of angels (Lucifer) so they could overthrow God, again. He is now an angel turned demon, and he was my best friend. I almost took the fall for him. All evidence pointed towards me, but Azrael was still inside there somewhere. With the belt of truth he could not lie. Azrael confessed everything. My honor was restored and he was gone. Someone had to be appointed Angel of Death. Azrael once described it as a curse. An Angel does not belong in The End, there are things down there that play with your mind. They will twist and contort you into something evil and grotesque. That's what happened to Azrael and to all other Angels of Death before him. That is what would happen to me. I was the friend of a monster and therefore just as responsible as he was for the conspiring. Though I wasn't stripped of my rank of status I was given the title Angel of Death. _DO NOT TRUST US. WE WILL COME FOR YOU. DO NOT TRUST US. WE WILL TURN ON YOU. DO NOT TRUST US. WE WILL END YOU!_

WELCOME TO YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!

GOOD LUCK FACING YOUR FEARS!

"The Angel of Death had turned on us once again!" Michael shouted as he pounded his fist on the table sending particles of stone flying into the air and causing Raphael to flinch. "Normally this kind of evil takes years to form. It has only been six months and already she is already foaming at the mouth." Michael collapsed into his marble throne. Silence met his angry outburst as the other archangels sought an answer.

"The evil in that place is growing stronger everyday as more people turn away," Seraphiel sighed her blues eyes were dead and appeared exhausted.

"Ariel is strong. Maybe she can fight it off," Raphael suggested. Raphael was Ariel and Michael's brother. He would not accept that she was going dark side.

"You know she can't Raphael. The End has poisonous influences that no angel can hope to fight off. There is no hope for her. Ariel is already lost to us," Michael replied softly.

"So now we've lost one of our strongest fighters and the Commander of the Avenging Angels?"

"I'm afraid so."

"This is hopeless," Raphael moaned with his head in his hands. "Evil is spreading too fast. What I don't get is how they are gaining control so easily. This was supposed to be the age of rebirth. The flood was supposed to take care of everything. Same with the death of the Son. I don't understand."

"Don't you see! This is the end! The End is taking everything that we have ever worked on. How I do not know. But there must be some way to stop them!" Jophiel burst out. The Archangel had been quiet throughout the whole meeting. He had been closer to Ariel than anyone else.

"Is there nothing we can do?" Seraphiel asked.

"Not nothing. We can hope and pray." Michael replied collapsing into his seat.

"What about the Nephilim? Could we reach out to them? It's their job to know what happens in the Shadow World. Would they know what's been happening?" Raphael suggested.

"Many of the Nephilim don't believe that they descended from us anymore," Jophiel sighed. "We can't put our faith in them."

"But some of them have seen Raziel. They have seen the angel that created them. How can they refuse to believe?"

"You would have us put our faith in some Shadowhunters that aren't even adults yet Raphael?" Raphael raised his head to meet Jophiel's burning gaze. "We can't trust them. What have they ever done for us?"

"That is enough Jophiel!" Michael shouted as he stood from his seat. Jophiel shrunk back. "We will send word to the Nephilim. Though I highly doubt that they will be much of a help. We don't even know how they are faring in their war with the demons. All that we know is that the shield surrounding Earth in breaking. There is not much hope for them. But as Raphael said maybe they will know something. Let's not get our hopes up though; we may have to fight this battle on our own."

Death and blood are all I see as the shell I inhabit wanders around Hell. There is nothing worse than being trapped in a body that in no longer in your own control. As the darkness has penetrated my body it will also penetrate my mind. Ouriel is using he newfound powers to change former angels. I am now a fallen angel. He wants me for himself. I can feel him probe my mind looking for a hint of my still being there. He always finds me. The feeling is slippery and seductive. Though I will never give in until I am no longer in control of myself. They know I'm in here. They know I still cling to my body. Ouriel won't stop torturing me until I no longer exist. Until I am nothing except a monster that he can control. I...

Feel...

Him...

He's...

Here...

**_I know you're in there Ariel! I will find you!_**

**_I will not give up Ouriel!_**

**_Everything went dark._**

"The Clave is corrupt! Don't you understand that Alec? Maybe not all, but most. They've been corrupt for years, but no one has realized it. There are power hungry Shadowhunters out there. They will do anything to get power. Even if it means turning on their own like Valentine and Sebastian." Jace cautiously rubbed the place over his heart where the mark that Sebastian used to control him. Alec just stared defiantly back at Jace. While Alec's blue eyes showed a calmness not normal for his age Jace's eyes flared with anger. The two were parabati. Blood brothers. They were "family". Even that didn't keep them from going at each other's throats, ever since Alec had almost got himself murdered by the newly turned vampire Maureen. Alec had been hoping to get information out of his former boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, Camille, the head of the vampire clan in Brooklyn.

"Will you two quit it!" Victoria Carstairs shouted from the darkest corner of the library. She had been a ward of the Institutes for quite a while and was like family to them all. She was still recovering from the recent demon poison that had been in her veins which caused sensitivity to light. "You have been going at this for hours. Why not let Maryse take care? Why must we worry about it? In case you haven't realized we all almost died within the past two months, and others were under the influence of the most vindictive man in the whole entire world! Could we please just give it a rest?" Victoria brought her hands to her temples and slowly began to massage them.

"Vic you don't have to be in here," Alec said gently.

"Well I can't exactly be anywhere else. Currently I can't sleep. I can't eat without puking it back up, and all my senses have been heightened. So whether or not I was on the opposite side of the Institute I would still have to listen to you two go at it. So why not be in here where I can give you my two cents?'

"Are you sure we don't need to send for Brother Zachariah?" Jace asked.

"I'm fine," she growled. "Get on with your bickering. I'm just going to stay in this nice musty corner." Victoria slowly pulled off her black sunglasses to reveal eyes that were severely dilated with silver iris' that gleamed in the darkness. Though no one could see them since she was in that dusty corner of the Library.

"Vic the reason why it is our concern is because the whole Sebastian problem directly influences us all. He has a creepy thing for you and Clary," Jace continued. Clary who had been silent throughout the whole meeting flinched as she remembered the hunger in Sebastian's eyes as he stared her. What was even worse was that Sebastian was Clary's full-blooded brother. Victoria didn't react. "Maryse can't protect us right now because she is dealing with the Consul. Even the Consul knows that the Clave is corrupt and she is trying to do something about it, but what they are not going to do is give the Institute extra security. The Consul would be wise not to trust basically anyone right now; in addition there is demon activity every. They are finding a way through the defenses that once protected this dimension the Clave knows that they need every single Shadowhunter available so that they can be sent out at a moment's notice to protect the mundies."

"I just am not willing to believe that this has happened to us. That the people we once trusted have turned on us. What is happening to this world?" Alec placed his head in his hands. A sure sign of defeat.

"Zeus we must go to their aid! Without us they will all die! And the world will once again fall to the giants!" Artemis argued with her father. As goddess of the hunt and the leader of a demigod pact called the Hunters, Artemis was eager to aid those who followed her.

"She is right father," Apollo, Artemis' twin brother, stood up from his throne on Mount Olympus, "They have aided us countless of times. Died for us. Why can we not protect our children?"

"Because," the lord of the sky growled, "I need time to think. In case you haven't noticed my _wife _went behind our backs to trade two of our most valuable leaders in Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter." Hera flinched beside her husband. It was true that she erased Jason Grace's and Percy Jackson's memories, but she had thought it for the best so that the prophecy would be fulfilled.

"Well it is time we helped! You open those gates now or I swear there will be hell to pay father," Artemis threatened with steel in her eyes.

"Very well," Zeus caved, "but this time it is different something stronger is at work. We all will most likely die once and for all. Are you all ready to accept the risks that come with opening this door so that we made aid our children?" All of the gods that were present gave a silent nod. "So be it."

There had been no word from those on the Argo II since the seven demigods had warned Chiron of the attack that would be coming from the Roman demigods. Chiron we beginning to worry, but it was time look every inch of the leader that he was so that the Camp Counselors meeting could go on. He eased his horse body into his magical wheelchair and pushed himself to the meeting room where a Ping-Pong table served as their round table. When this camp had first started there would only have been twelve others present to represent the twelve Olympians; now there was twenty present. Eight new cabins were added after the Second Olympian Ware. Luke Castellan, former counselor of the Hermes Cabin, had betrayed the gods and his family. In his last few minutes as Kronos began to take over his body did he find the error in his ways and killed himself. His last request was made to Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, that no half-bloods would remain unclaimed and not have a cabin to go to. This was still a work-in-progress, which would have to be stopped so that they could all prepare for battle. Chiron did a quick headcount; only seventeen of the twenty were present. Chiron knew that two were with Argos II, but where was the third?

"Will?" Chiron asked. Will Solace, the counselor of the Apollo cabin, quickly came to attention. "Have you seen Victoria?"

"I haven't seen her all week Chiron. She said that she had a few things to take care of in Brooklyn. I thought she would have told you." Will answered.

"Well, I did know, but she said she would be back by now."

"I don't know then. She told me not to call," Will sighed. Victoria kept few secrets, but when she did it was for the sake of everyone. Chiron knew that these secrets tended to put a strain on Will and Victoria's relationship.

"I'll give her a call later. She ought to be here right now." Chiron quickly wheeled to the head of the pool table next to Victoria's empty chair and Thalia, who was Artemis' second-in-command as well as the counselor for the Artemis' cabin. "I am afraid I have grave news. Percy and Annabeth have recently notified me that the Romans intend to attack this camp very soon. It seems as though Leo made them pretty angry when he fired upon them with Argos II's cannon, but he was also possessed by an Eidolon. Which caused him to do these things." A panicked look passed over all the counselors faces. They knew that they did not stand a chance; Camp Jupiter was twice the size of Camp Half-Blood. They didn't stand a chance. "Please don't panic. Percy also said that Reyna the leader of the Romans will do everything in her power to slow the attack. She doesn't want any more blood to be shed, but Octavian their "prophet" pushes her to move forward. She can only buy us a few days, and Percy had no idea when they will get here."

"So we prepare for war," Clarisse La Rue, counselor of the Ares cabin, suggested.

"Yes Clarisse that is exactly what we will do."

"How long will this go on Chiron? It has been battle after battle these past six years. When will it end?" asked Lou Ellen, counselor for the Hecate cabin.

"I wish I knew Lou. I wish I knew. Please pass this onto all your cabin mates. We are preparing for battle, and this time we will not be fighting monsters, titans, or giants. We will be fighting people who are just like us, but they are much more committed. They will not hesitate to kill you; we will not hesitate to kill them either so that we can protect our home that many of us have given our lives to defend. It saddens me to know that this is what we have come to, but we have no choice. You are dismissed. We will meet again tomorrow to discuss our plan of action." Chiron quickly wheeled away even as his students shouted after him wanting more details on Argo II's adventures and on how they were going to take care of the Roman threat. As much as Chiron wanted to give them an answer; he could not. What he needed to do was to get in touch with Victoria. Only Chiron knew what she really was. A daughter of Poseidon and of the Nephilim. She had been trained in the ways of the immortals so that she could harness her aura. She was stronger than anyone knew.

Chiron rolled up to the Big House's landline and quickly dialed Victoria's number hoping she would pick up.

Victoria quickly pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans and rushed out of the library when she saw the Big House's name pop up on the screen. All four Shadowhunters stared after her, but then went on squabbling.

"Hello," Victoria wheezed into the phone.

"Victoria?"

"Hey Chiron," she gave a wobbly smile knowing that her voice sounded scratchy and weak.

"I know that you needed to take care of some things in Brooklyn, but we need you back at camp now. The Romans plan on attacking us soon." Victoria swore under her breath.

"I can't come back yet. Currently I'm recovering from poisoning that almost killed me. I'm not quite out of the woods yet." Victoria let out a wet cough that tasted of blood. She quickly brought her left hand to her mouth only to find it scarlet with blood. "Chiron," another cough. This time the blood came pouring out of her mouth and she became dizzy. Her knees gave out beneath her and she dropped her cell phone which gave a big resounding crack that echoed throughout the stone hallway. Another cough. More blood. Victoria could hear Chiron's panicked voice on the phone before it died. Alec threw the doors to the library.

"Victoria!" Alec ran to her side his blue eyes searching her green ones. Alec took a sharp breath. The whites of her eyes were black with blood which slowly began to drip down her face, and her iris' were a gleaming silver. The blood continued to pour from her mouth as she whispered to him. Then she blacked out.

Magnus Bane had just gotten out of the shower when his phone. He quickly wrapped a towel around his naked waist and lazily grabbed the phone. "This is the most wondrous Magnus Bane how may I help your wretched mortal soul?"

"That is a lovely way to answer a phone Magnus," replied the caller. Magnus' cheery disposition cooled.

"What do you want Alexander Lightwood?" He asked.

"It's Victoria she's taken a turn for the worse," Alec sounded worried on the other end. Magnus felt something pull at his heart.

"What has that got to do with me? Seeing as we broke up I no longer have to help you with you petty Nephilim problems. Call in one of your Silent Brothers I am sure that they can help you." Magnus went to hang up.

"No," Alec shouted, "Victoria said that the Silent Brothers can't help her; she said only you can. She said that without your help she would die. She said that it was just like what some guy named James Carstairs had except much worse." Magnus was silent on the other end. "Magnus?"

"I'll be there a.s.a.p.," and with that Magnus hung up leaving Alec speechless on the other end. Magnus quickly put on regular jeans and a t-shirt. He didn't bother to try to look like his normal flamboyant self. He left his penthouse without a smidge of makeup on and with his hair still wet and wild. This is something that Magnus never does.

There was a loud series of knocks on the Institutes doors. Jace jumped up from his seat and opened them for Magnus. Without a word Jace took off running toward the infirmary with Magnus right behind. The tension in Jace's shoulders and the set of his jawline made Magnus even more worried. How bad could it be? He remembered when another young Herondale had begged Magnus to help him and the women he loved find a cure for his parabati's sickness. James Carstairs was dying. In the end Magnus had not found it all. No one had. Magnus did not know what Victoria expected him to do for her. She knew that he didn't know what to do. Magnus had no idea how to help the one of the only surviving Carstairs. If there would only be one Carstairs left... Two. One, and she was only fourteen and grieving.. If Victoria died, so did the only person that really understood him.

Jace and Magnus reached the sterile infirmary. Everything was white except for the bed that Victoria laid on. The once pristine white sheets were now covered in scarlet blood. Victoria was still with eyes wide and mouth open. Every once in a while a shiver would pass over her body. Magnus rushed over to her side and gently laid his hand on her forehead only to quickly bring it away as if he had been burned. Victoria had a raging fever. Slowly her eyes moved toward Magnus and she gave a weak smile as she tried to blood spurt out of her mouth onto Magnus' shirt.

"Oh Victoria, what happened to you?" Magnus slowly got on to his knees and brushed her strawberry blonde hair away from her face. Another shiver. Maybe more of a seizure. Her sickness had progressed faster than Jem's had, but she had different blood in her system. Half-god, part-angel, and a good amount of human blood in there. This was different than James' sickness although the same Magnus was not sure how he could help, but Victoria seemed certain that he could help. Magnus muttered a quick spell over her that would allow her lungs to be clear for only a few minutes.

"Victoria," Magnus whispered to her in Ancient Greek, "can you hear me?"

"Yes," she whispered. Her voice cracked. "Magnus. Help me." The poor girl was frightened, but this fear was not one that he had ever seen in Victoria. She had always been the strong one. Never showing too much emotion; should she ever be hurt again.

"My dear, what do you expect me to do? You know that I know not what the cure is," Magnus cried in sloppy Ancient Greek. Victoria had just taught it to him, but Magnus knew that Victoria would not want the other's to know what they were saying to each other. She snatched Magnus' hand that was now at his side and squeezed it.

"Thing is Magnus I believe in you." Another weak smile. "You would figure something out if I had not thought of something first." Another cough. More blood. Her body went rigid. His spell was wearing off.

"Victoria? What is it?" He shouted at the sick girl switching to English. She stared at him with glassy green eyes.

"Time...," she gasped. "Travel." Her hand went slack.

"Victoria?" Magnus shook Victoria. There was no response, only the faint rise of her chest as she breathed in and out.

"What did she meant 'time travel'?" Isabelle asked quietly. Magnus lifted his gold cat-like eyes to her chocolate brown ones. There was an ache in Magnus' core as he glanced around the room at all the weary Shadowhunters. They were all so young, and had seen so much death. How could they lose yet another loved one? Though Victoria may not be family by blood, the Lightwoods, the Herondale, the Fairchilds, and the Carstairs had always been connected somehow.

"She meant exactly that young Miss Lightwood," Magnus stood up slowly like an old man.

"But there is no such magic," Jace put in. They were all too worried about Victoria to even care that they had been speaking in a different language.

"Maybe not to the Nephilim, but there are some who harness its ability. The ability to control time takes practice. Years of it. This form of magic is not one that..." Magnus cut himself off. Victoria would not want that. "If Victoria has not told you I suspect that she would not wish me to either." No reaction. They like William Solace were used to secrets kept by one of their dearest friends.

"Why would she suggest it then? I mean are you one of the few that you spoke of?" This time it was Clarissa. Though Clary had not known Victoria very long she knew how worried Jace was, but she herself had grown to think of Victoria as a sister.

Magnus grew tired of all the questions. "Could you just trust me and Victoria," he growled at them. The ferocity in his eyes made all the Nephilim take a step back, but it quickly turned to despair and fear. For once he was not a warlock. Magnus was just a young man grieving for a friend and trying to save her life. They did not know what this girl goes through every day to keep them safe. Her family. The world safe. Just had almost given her life up for them on more than one occasion, and very well might lose her life this time. Magnus was the one that she came to in times of trouble. It was either him, Nicholas, or Chiron. The only ones she truly trusted with her secrets. He stroked his jaw silently in thought with his eyes narrowed. "I apologize for my outburst, but now I need to talk to Clarissa. Privately." Jace glanced at the girl he loved as she gave a small nod.

"What about Vi-" Alec started.

"She'll be fine with me," Magnus replied not looking in Alec's direction. He only had eyes for the blood that began to drip out of Victoria's mouth. This bothered him. What made this so much worse? In the past week Victoria had declined faster than James ever had or would have had he not been on the drug that prolonged his life, but killed him at the same time. Magnus gently lifted her eyelid and revealed what he had most feared. Already her pupils were silver, and silver slowly streaked her red hair, and her skin was becoming more and more white, and that was difficult to do. Would she become his own version of Snow White?

"All right then," Alec said quietly. Magnus jumped. He'd forgotten that Alec had been standing there. He left the infirmary leaving Magnus alone with two red-headed females.

"Magnus?" Clary asked cautiously.

"Miss Morgenstern... Fairchild... Fray? Clarissa there is no need to speak to me as if you are approaching a wild animal. I am not wounded. I am merely upset by the fact that your brother has done this to her, and that if she dies I will lose one of my dearest friends. She knows me better than Alec, and has known me much longer than you all have. So Clarissa even though I may appear to be fragile now, I have to be strong. I have to be strong for her just as she has been for me. You have my word Clarissa that I will save her even if I die trying. I will save her just as she has saved me from myself so many times." Clary was taken aback by Magnus' show of emotion and care. She had always associated him with being carefree and not really caring about anything and anyone besides Alec.

"And I will help you help her," Clary replied softly. "But how can I help, Magnus? What can I do?"

"Clarissa. Do you still underestimate yourself? You have no idea how powerful you are. Unlike Jace you may not have the physical traits of the angel, but you do have the art. You can create runes. This is why I need your help." Clary's eyes widened. "With the ability of time travel it takes a very powerful aura-"

"Aura?"

"That will take too long to explain. Basically to be able to control time it takes a massive amount of energy. So when one person, that person being me, does this form of magic their aura is massively depleted. This magic can only be done once year and the portal can only stay open for a few minutes. What I need you to do it to make a ruin that will keep the portal open as long as possible." Clary remained calm throughout this conversation. While she wasn't entirely sure how to create this rune she would try.

"I will try Magnus." Magnus nodded and left the room swiftly leaving Victoria in the hands of Clarissa.

"Fleming's bookstore. How may I help you?" A man in about his fifties answered the phone in his and his wife's bookstore in San Francisco.

"Is this Nicholas Flamel?" A young man inquired on the other end of the line. The man brought the phone away from his ear and looked at the area code of which the call came from. Brooklyn, New York. That's where Victoria lives.

"To whom am I speaking?" The man asked.

The young man let out a sigh of relief. "My name is Magnus Bane." Nicholas almost dropped the phone. He knew that Victoria would never have Bane contact him unless it was an emergency.

"What's wrong with her?" Nicholas asked. Perenelle's, Nick's wife, head snapped to attention her black her charging with white electricity. The minute she heard the panic in her husband's voice she felt that same panic. Nick's face turned ashen, and his whole body began to shake. "I-I understand. We'll be on the next flight out. And Bane take good care of her." Nicholas hung up the phone.

Perenelle stood up and laid a gentle hand upon his trembling shoulder. "Sweetheart what is it?"

"Victoria, she- she's been poisoned. The Shadowhunters have done everything they possibly can, but there is demon blood running through her veins." Perenelle took in a sharp breath.

"That will kill her Nicholas. She cannot die!" Perenelle cried. Victoria had become the daughter that she never had. They were family. "How can we help?"

"Bane says that time travel may be able to help, but he needs more than one person. He can't do it by himself. He says in needs Josh and Sophie."

Perenelle nodded in understanding. "They would do it for her."

"Yes. Yes they would." Nicholas picked up the phone again to call one of the most powerful people in the whole world.

In this world I wander there is only pain and suffering. Even in my own mind, but my mind no longer inhabits my body. My spirit merely wanders the dream world, but there is no one here. How can this be? Do mundanes no longer dream?

"Help me," someone whispers from the darkness. I jump.

"Who's there?" I ask.

"My name is Victoria Carstairs." The name sounded familiar, but I could not place it. "Who are you?"

"I'm Ariel." There was a pause before the girl answered.

"The Angel of Music?" Not many were familiar with my name unless they were Nephilim.

"Yes, I believe you call it, but not many know my name unless they are Nephilim. Are you?" Another pause.

"Yes," Victoria gave a wet cough. "Should there not be others here too?" I looked around the darkness; seeing nothing but tendrils of smoke. When I had traveled here before it was always full of dreams. What had happened?

"There should be, but something has happened."

"Do you know?"

"No I do not." She gave another cough. "But normally people are not aware when they are here. How are you?"

"Maybe because I'm not dreaming, but dying. Are you dying?"

"Only my spirit is here child. Only my spirit." Victoria was gone.

Chiron had received a call from Magnus Bane detailing Victoria's condition. Chiron would give anything to be able to help the girl now, but there was nothing he could do. He also had two-hundred other campers to think about. William would want to know, but with this battle coming they will need every medic that they have. He needs to know. Chiron rolled himself to the intercom that reached the whole camp. "William Solace to the Big House please. It's urgent." It was a few minutes before Will burst through the door with his medic bag still in his hands.

"Is- is it about Victoria?" He gasped for air. Chiron nodded slowly and gestured for the young man to take a seat on the sofa.

"William, Victoria is very sick. She was poisoned with something that there is no cure to or none that anyone knows of. She does not have very much time, but the people that she is with are taking very good care of her and are doing everything in their power to save her from this sickness. But without this cure she will die." Chiron let his words sink in. Will doubled over and put his head in his hands. The boy loved this girl just as she did him. He could not lose her.

"Chiron I have to go to her. I won't let her die alone," he whispered.

"Will, she won't be alone. She is with friends." But Will was persistent.

"I can help her!" He shouted. How quickly despair can turn to anger and then back to despair.

"She would want you to stay here so that you could help with the injured when this battle occurs. She would not forgive you if you let a single camper die that could have been helped had you been here. You have to trust me on this Will. You would not want to see her the way she is now. Just hold onto the memories that you have of her now and pray."

"I have to go!"

"William! Victoria would not want it," Chiron replied calmly. Will just stood up from the sofa and walked out of the Big House slamming the door shut behind him causing Chiron to flinch. Teenagers these days had tempers that could match the gods, and that was very hard to do. Chiron returned to his office to continue going over the maps of the camp so that at their war council later this evening there may be some sort of plan ready.

After hours of reviewing the campers suggestions for defense there came a knock at his door. Chiron rubbed his eyes before allowing the visitor to enter. A man entered wearing purple running shorts and a leopard spotted Hawaiian shirt. The visitor had a rather youthful face though you could not tell from the strained expression on his face that caused his normally ruddy cheeks to not have any color. This man had also not touched a goblet of wine in months and the roundness of his face had been lost. Dionysus was no longer the same god that he once was. The normally carefree god now looked as though he had the weight of the world upon his shoulders and looked more like a god than a friend.

"Dionysus?" Chiron was shocked that the wine god was here. Zeus had closed off Olympus how was it that he was here. "How are you back?"

"Zeus has opened the gates of Olympus once more after many months of arguing on all of our parts," Dionysus slowly pushed his hands through his curly black hair and sat down one of the leather chairs that was across from Chiron. "I'm afraid that I come bearing bad news regarding the campers on Argos II." Dionysus paused taking a deep breath before explaining the events that had unfolded after they had lost contact. "They freed Nico, but at the cost of Perseus and Annabeth. Annabeth had one of Arachne's webs caught around her foot and she was pulled into Tartarus. Mr. Jackson caught her hand, but was also pulled in. They fell into Tartarus Chiron and will have to fight their way through every single monster that they have ever slain to get to the Doors of Death. They will most likely not make it out alive, but I put my faith into them when they were children. They are capable of so much more now than they ever were then, and now they have something to fight for. They will fight for each other so that one day they can grow old and have two point five children. They said these things as they fell, Chiron."

Chiron felt cold to the core. Three of his camper's lives were hanging in the balance and there was nothing he could do. The life of the demigod was never and easy one, but lately it seemed that there was just death upon death upon death. Almost all of the camp counselors were replaced in the middle of the Titan War last summer. Like his campers Chiron was getting tired of the fighting he remembered a time when there was peace and that his campers didn't have to worry about another approaching battle.

"How'd you know?" He asked quietly.

"We've been watching their progress and aiding them in whatever way possible. It was Mr. Jackson's and Miss Chase's fate that caused the anger that was inside all of us to boil to the surface. We're back to help. Though I'm not sure what big of a help we will be now. I will do whatever I can to protect these campers. I swear." Chiron nodded.

"The war council meeting in a few minutes. Would you care to join?"

"I would love to," Dionysus sighed and walked around Chiron's desk and pushed him to the deck where Chiron got out of his chair and was his centaur self again. Slowly one white leg appeared at a time revealing the body of a white stallion. "I'd never thought I'd say this, but I've missed this place, my friend." With that the pair headed toward the amphitheater. For once this war council would not only be between the counselors, but between all the campers.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

**Victoria**

As I walked the halls of the Institute everything was black and white. I suppose that is what it would be like as you wander your home in the dream realm. But is it the dream realm? Or is it where people go before they die? I know I'm dying I can feel my life force slowly draining and it becomes harder to keep my ghostly eyes open in this place. If I just close them will I feel the pain no longer? The pain is unbearable. The fragile connection that I still have with my body brings back every cough and body spasm that my body has. I can hear them talking about me. Magnus telling them that it is my secret to tell them when I can, but will I ever get the chance to? Magnus protects me even though he knows that there is only a sliver of a chance that I will make it through this.

I pass Church, our fluffy gray cat who is over one hundred years old, his eyes seem to follow me. Maybe he can see me; from what I understand is that around 1878 he was being used as a sacrifice by the Dark Sisters, who were warlocks, but then my ancestor and Jace's ancestor saved him, James Carstairs and William Herondale. I guess some pretty strong magic was used on Church because he comes up to me and purrs, maybe he can see the dead. I continue past Church. Something is tugging at me and I have to follow it even as Church yowls at me. I throw a glance behind me and smile at him only then does he calm down.

I hear ghostly piano music playing in the ballroom. Is that where I was meant to go? I don't have to push the door, I just pass through the oak doors. The piano lies in the center of the massive ballroom that had not be used in two years. Such beautiful dances and parties used to be held here. The painted mosaic of two angels reaching out to each other is shrouded in the dark. The shadows seemed to be cowering from the only light that comes from two people with angel wings protruding from their backs. I flinched away from the light. Angels? How could such magnificent beings be in our Institute? Slowly I made my way to the piano where the two sat. From their builds I could tell that one was a woman and the other a man. I tried my best to stay out of their light for every time I touched it I could feel the poison in my blood writhe in pain. I walked around the piano hoping to get a glimpse at their faces. But I knew them already. These two angels were my angels. Jonathan Christopher Herondale-Lightwood and Clarissa Adele Fray-Morgenstern. Jace slowly tapped away at the piano as Clary laid her curly red head on his shoulder. Tear stains could be seen on both their faces. Was I so deathly ill that they would cry over me. Their light stretched towards me causing me to cry out in pain and leap back. Jace's playing faltered as he looked around him.

"Did you hear that?" Jace asked. Clary nodded slowly and quickly scanned the room with her green eyes. Green and Gold were looking for me.

"Hello? Jace?" I called. Jace jerked his head around and his gold eyes narrowed and searched where I was standing.

"Who's there?" He shouted. The light around him quickly expanded as if protecting Jace from and evil presence which I suppose is me. I was caught in the light once more and fell to my knees in pain. Jace and Clary's eyes widened. They could see me? "Victoria," Jace whispered in wonder. I let out a whimper. It burned. Their gazes. Their light. I stepped out of the light, but it kept stretching and reaching for me. Was it trying to reclaim me?

"Victoria, please stop running," Jace pleaded with me, but if he knew how much pain he caused me would he then tell me not to run? They stood up simultaneously, so quickly that their movements were just blurs, causing the piano bench to fall over. Another surge of power coming faster and faster towards me. Soon I was backed into the corner of the ballroom with nowhere else to go. I sobbed as the light touched and burned me. My veins were on fire and there was no hope of escaping the pain.

"Please tell the light to go away!" I cried through my pain. Jace gave Clary a confused look before whispering something to her. She nodded before giving me a pitying look and left the room slowly shutting the door behind her. As she left so did some of the light leaving me in my own dark corner, and leaving me alone with one of my dearest friends who happens to be an angel. Jace took a cautious step towards me. The light did not follow him. He kneeled in front of me his inner light forming a glow around him and his wings folded into his back.

"Jace you have wings," I whispered in awe. He raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"I think your sickness is causing you to hallucinate Tori, but at least you're getting better. I wonder how you snuck by the ever watchful eyes of your nurse, Isabelle. Let's get you back to the infirmary." He reached for my hands so that he could pull me to my feet, and I tried to give them to him hoping for a brief moment that I was solid and that he would be able to pick me up just like he had when we were younger. I hoped with all my heart that he would and that the reason why I could only distinguish one color from all the other grays was because he was Jace. Someone that I loved for a very long time. Because he was my family and so was Clary. I hoped that this was just a nightmare that I would wake up from, and that the wings were just a figment of my own imagination, but some things cannot be and we all are let down. His hands passed right through my dull gray ones. Jace lost his balance and landed on his back. I knew he would, but a girl can hope.

"Are you dead?"

I shook my head. "No. I can still feel a connection to my body. I can feel every single cough and shudder." I brought my knees to my chest and hugged them. "Do you hold your light at bay?"

"What?"

"I told you that you had wings in this world that I'm in. You and Clary both, and then you both have this light that surrounds you and it burns me."

"Is that why you ran from me?" I simply nodded. "How can I see you?"

"Well, William Herondale could see ghosts. Maybe you got that talent from his side of the family. Or maybe it's because you have more angel blood in you." I shrugged unsure of what else I could say.

"Tori you're fading away," Jace exclaimed. I looked down at my hands they seemed no less there than they were before.

"Maybe only to you, but I am here and I am not leaving."

"Victoria! Tori!" Obviously he could no longer see me.

I stood up slowly, leaving Jace by himself wondering what had just happened.

Does this darkness that I wander have a name? The halls of the Institute which used to give me warmth and a sense of belonging now make me realize that I am alone in this black and white world. A world in which none wander, but I. Do those who are on the brink of death wander here? Or am I truly and utterly alone. This feeling is not one that I wished to remember for I thought I had left it behind and replaced it with strength and courage. When your worst fear comes back don't the feelings which you accompany with fear come back too? We all have that one fear that is not a something; its a feeling. My fear is being alone.

_"__Sweetheart, wake up," My mother urged me gently as as shook my shoulders. I slowly opened my eyes and wiped the sleep out of them meeting my mommy's blue eyed gaze. "Happy seventh birthday honey." She smiled brightly at me. _

_ "__But Mommy it's not my birthday. Tomorrow is Halloween so that means that there is about a month until my birthday," I chirped._

_ "__I know, but we're going to celebrate early." She gently touched my face. "Now get dressed and then meet us all in the dining room we are going on a road trip to London."_

_ "__Will I get to ride the Eye?" I asked._

_ "__Of course!" She laughed. It was the sound of fluttering bells. She always had the best laugh. "It's your birthday, and we are going to do all of you favorite things. Now get dressed silly." Mom exited my bedroom and left me sitting there alone. _

_I quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and black t-shirt. I grabbed the hair tie from around my wrist a scooped my hair into a ponytail when I heard the sound of shattering glass and screams from my little brother, James. There was a hissing and slithering sound._

_"__Where is the girl?" Someone hissed. The hairs on my arms raised for it sounded as if many someones were speaking at once._

_"__There is no girl here," my father shouted. More screams came from James who was only three._

_"__Please don't hurt him he is only a baby!" My mother shrieked. James' screams became more constant until they stopped. The silence was then accompanied by my mother's screams of outrage, fear, and despair. They were that of a battle cry. Slowly I sank to the crowd with tears streaming down my face and a hand clamped around my mouth as the shouting and screaming continued._

_Then there was silence. There was nothing. I waited for dad to come pick me up, smooth my hair back, and tell me that everything would be alright. He never came. I sat there huddled in the corner of the room for hours. Or maybe it was days. I began to feel a gnawing pit of hunger in my stomach, but I would not leave. They would come for me. They always have. Thirst. Water._

_My mouth became dry and the light faded and came back up again three times before I finally got up. Would they be there as if nothing had happened or would the be gone? Did they leave me alone to play a joke? A sick and cruel joke? No they were not ones to do so. _

_I slowly pushed my bedroom door open. The hallway was littered with glass from our picture frames and the pictures themselves had been shredded to tiny pieces. I picked my way around the glass wincing every time a piece would crack underneath my foot. Deep gouges decorated our blue walls. The white paint which was revealed underneath the blue had now been dyed a horrible ugly brown. There was an awful smell that almost made me lose what little I had in me. I approached the front hall. The french doors were kicked in and the glass chandelier now lay on the floor crushing something underneath its weight._

_This something was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Once it appeared to be a man, and then something slimy and reptilian. The image would waver before my eyes. The slimy reptilian man creature had a glowing blade stuck in its head. I approached it with caution and a pulled the blade out of its head. The blade seemed to glow even brighter. I dropped it as the black blood that covered the tip dripped onto my hand and burned me. I moved on from the reptilian creature only to stumble across my family. My mother, my father, and James were on the ground next to each other with hands gently laid at their sides. I sank to my knees next to them and gently stroked James' face. He was cold and that was when I knew that they would not be waking up. I stroked his black hair away from his forehead before whispering the words that my mother had taught me to say if anything happened to them. _

_"__Ave Atque Vale James Enright. Ave Atque Vale Anastasia Carstairs Enright. Ave Atque Vale Benjamin Enright." My mother told me to be strong and that if they all died I was not to sit down and cry like a normal child. For I am not normal. I would get up and dial the number on our phone that she'd given me and these people would help me, and I did._

_"__Hello," said a woman on the other end. "Who is this?"_

_"__My name is Victoria Carstairs and my mom said that if I ever needed help to call you."_

_"__Where is your mother-Victoria?" She stuttered._

_"__On the ground. My brother, my mother, and my father are all dead," I whispered. Only then did I cry as she asked me to explain._

_"__Everything is going to be alright sweetheart, I promise. There will be people there soon who will help you, and I will be one of them," the woman tried to comfort me. Though she herself sounded close to tears._

_"__I don't even know your name though."_

_"__My name is Maryse Lightwood, and I was a very close friend of your mother's."_

The Lightwoods became my family after that. I stayed in touch with my dad's family. Though I suppose he isn't my dad after all. The Enright's had been nothing but kind to me, but somehow they knew that I did not belong with them. From a young age I knew that as well. I am not human, and I am less than half human. Less human than Magnus, which is saying something. I am half god and I have a little bit of angel blood in me which makes me Nephilim and not human. I belong to neither world. Do I belong anywhere? I suppose many teenagers ask themselves this same question. I have met many of those teens.

I am Victoria Carstairs, Princess Victoria of Rome, Marion Styles, and Katriane Phoenix. I've been royalty. I've been a beggar. I've been a warrior, a lady, a revolutionary, and a politician. Over many lifetimes, and I shall never find rest. I always find myself dead the day before my eighteenth birthday. The day that I would become immortal. I have lived so many lives that I find it hard to keep track of the memories. My memories never show themselves until I turn ten, but with no one to tell you what they mean or how to interpret them you can go insane.

I was ten when I first met Magnus Bane in this lifetime. I would have these flashes of memories that would not stop. Always playing and never ending. I would wake up screaming after watching people that I had loved die before me. The feelings were there and I could feel all the pain and loss that I'd felt in that moment. I felt myself die when those memories came up. There was the one where Klaus, werewolf-vampire hybrid who also happens to be one of the original vampires, drained me of all my blood while Elijah, his brother also a original vampire, sat there and watched with tears streaming down his face. I loved him then, though he swore his love for Katerina Petrova. I felt every single drop leaved my body. So many lifetimes. So many deaths.

I was losing my mind. As a ten year-old I could not handle such pain. Pain that I had recently felt. I committed suicide. Then there was the unfortunate realization that I could breathe underwater. Then there was a young man next to me with yellow cat-eyes. He pulled me out of the water. I knew him from a flash of a vision. This was Magnus Bane a friend.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked.

I nodded. My wet hair falling into my face. "You're Magnus Bane. Aren't you?" Magnus nodded.

"I'm here to help you in any way possible and I brought along two others that you might remember. They too are here to help you as well." He gestured for two men to come forward. One in a wheelchair and the other with slicked back black hair. They were familiar and thus I met my tutors Nicholas Flamel and Chiron.

It was agreed that Nick would escort me to the entrance of the Roman demigod camp, Camp Jupiter, in San Francisco, which is where he lived, under the pretense that he was my mother's brother and had only recently heard of her death because he had been on a mission's trip for the past three years. My "family" quickly jumped on the idea to get rid of me. I suppose I was a reminder of the son that they lost. I would never really live with the Enrights; it wasn't allowed. The Nephilim knew that and they made it seem as if the Enrights had an option. I don't know how the rest of my life got to be the way it was without the Nephilim intervening. On school days I would stay at the Institute and weekends at Camp Half-Blood with Chiron. Then every other week in the summer I would spend it at the San Francisco Institute to further my training as a Shadowhunter and the other weeks I would stay with Nick and he would help me unlock my abilities as an Immortal. My life was nonstop training to become the ultimate warrior. Someone created to save the world. I became a demigod warrior, a Shadowhunter, someone who can wield their aura, and sometimes just a normal human girl.

Saving the world? I've done that so many times and lost those I've loved along the way. Sometimes I've wondered if the mundanes need saving. They destroyed the peace that I fought and died for them hundreds of times, and a feeling of resentment and bitterness would rise up in me. But then it is not their fault it is the darkness infiltrates their world and them. Then I am also the reason why the peace was so easily destroyed. I can either be born again into the darkness or into the light. More often than not it is the light, but when in the darkness I long for power and revenge and I'll do anything to get it. I swore to myself that the second time it happened would be the last time, and for centuries it has been, but now I feel that same lust rising to the top of my being as the poison that Sebastian put into me takes ahold of my body. I drank from the Infernal Cup, though no one knows this.

I will not die from this sickness. My hair which was red will turn silver and then black, and my eyes as well. I will lose what little color I had and will become as pale as snow. Then I will be under the control of Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern for forever, and believe me that is the last thing that anyone will want. I would become his ultimate weapon once he discovers how much power I truly have. I control earth, air, fire, water, and time. I am a Shadowhunter with the archangel's mark upon the back of my neck and the mark that all of those related to the Herondales bear on their shoulder. I am the daughter of Neptune, (or Poseidon, but I was born when he was in his Roman aspect), thus I am the Princess of the Sea. I am the reincarnation of so many influential people. What would it be like for you? What would it be like for me?


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

**Magnus**

Magnus wasn't sure whether or not to clue on the Nephilim of whom they were about to face or the secrets that Victoria had been keeping. But he knew that he had to for they needed to know who was going to be at their doorsteps in a matter of minutes. They would be meeting some of the most powerful Immortals of all time. Nicholas Flamel, Perenelle Flamel, Sophie Newman, and Josh Newman aka Marethyu, Death. Magnus left Victoria's side, leaving her in the capable hands of Isabelle Lightwood, in search of the other Nephilim.

Magnus took a deep breath of air as he exited the infirmary which smelled of blood. Though it ended up that two of the three Shadowhunters came to him. Clary came up with a bewildered expression on her face before entering the Infirmary after Magnus told her that he wished to speak with all of them. Then came Jace who appeared pale and stricken.

"Jace?" Magnus asked wearily. Jace's eyes focused on him.

"Victoria... ghost," Jace whispered. Magnus arched his eyebrows and quickly ushered Jace inside and had Clary get him a glass of water before setting off in search of Alec. Alec and Victoria were very close and Magnus knew that Alec would most likely be where Victoria's presence was. Her favorite place. The Library. Magnus quickly found his way to the Library and found Alec. He was sat at the window seat looking out over Brooklyn. Even though they were broken up Magnus had never loved anyone like he loved Alec. The sun cast a glow around him deepening the contrast between Alec's black hair and the world around him.

Magnus cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt, but there are some things that we all need to discuss involving Victoria, and how we are going to get her well." Alec nodded silently before standing and brushing past Magnus without a word.

Magnus let out a sigh of frustration and ran his fingers through his short black hair before pressing them on the side of his nose to relieve the buildup of pressure. As much as he wanted to worry about his no longer existent relationship with Alec he knew that he had to place these thoughts into the very back of his mind if he wanted to help Victoria. He would not lose her again. So many times had they lived together and been each other's family, but then he lost her every time, and it never ceased to be painful even though he knew that he would see her again. Magnus also knew that Victoria would be very young and he would watch her grow up and then die again. He would watch as her youthful eyes would slowly become guarded and frightened for she knew that every time she lived there was no way to escape death.

This was different though. She was only seventeen though her eighteenth birthday was a three months away. This would be the last time that Victoria would be reborn. Magnus was going to make sure that Victoria made it to her birthday this time. She would live, but then cursed like he was. The curse of immortality was one that many people would welcome as a friend. They would view it as a gift. To never age and never die. Though sometimes Magnus did view it as a gift at one point in time now all he sees is death. He'd seen empires rise and fall and he watched as people that he'd come to care about grow old and die around him. Why would anyone want such a curse and call it a gift? This was the question Magnus had asked himself so many times until he finally found the answer. He hadn't even realized that he knew the answer until a young William Herondale asked him how he had endured so many deaths when his parabati, James Carstairs, was lying on his deathbed. Magnus could remember his answer as if it were yesterday for he had kept these words with him ever since. 'You asked me how I, being immortal, survive so many deaths. There is no great secret. You endure what is unbearable, and bear it. That is all.'

To endure was all Victoria had ever done. She lived every day with the memories of her death and every day she knew she was getting closer and closer to dying again. Though she had stayed strong in the face of fear and death. Magnus knew her better than that. The young Nephilim had never really seen her in emotional pain until the days that followed that battle in Idris. When she had lost someone she called her brother. Maxwell Lightwood. His death brought up the painful memories of losing her family... but enough of all that. Magnus needed to address several grieving Shadowhunters.

When Magnus walked into the infirmary once more he could tell that the smell of blood had thickened. He quickly rushed to Victoria's side. He could tell she was becoming more and more pale. Her face was becoming thinner and her cheekbones were becoming more prominent. Magnus took a closer look at her eyes. He gently lifted and eyelid with his fingers. The whites of her eyes were still black with blood and the formerly green eyes which had turned silver had begun to deepen and turn black. This was something that Magnus had never seen before. He let her eyes close and took a final once over of Victoria. The roots of her hair were now turning black. Magnus gasped and took a step back. This was not regular poisoning. Victoria never told any of them what Sebastian had used to get the demon blood in her veins, but now he understood. She had known that there was no hope for her. How could he have not seen it before. The only reason why her hair and eyes had turned silver was because she must have been taking _yin fen_ to hold off the oncoming effects of the poison. Victoria must have been taking major doses of it, but it hadn't been working. She had taken a drink from the Infernal Cup. She was turning into one of Sebastian's minions.

"Magnus, what is it?" Alec asked softly. Only then did Magnus realize that he had been looking down in horror at Victoria for quite a while.

"She drank from the Infernal Cup," Magnus whispered as he sat down on the bed behind him and put his head in his hands. Clary gasped in horror. Magnus met every single one of their gazes. Isabelle's were full of tears. She felt the pain the Victoria was going through as she was brought further and further away from what made her Nephilim. Isabelle and Victoria were parabati after all. "I need one of you to go search Victoria's room for _yin fen._ It is a silvery powder that may be able to help for a little longer. She's been taking it without out you guys knowing for quite a while. There is little to nothing that I can do until my help gets here. Soon you will be meeting some if the most powerful human beings ever. More powerful than me. They have known Victoria for quite a while, and I will need you to stay out of their way for there is nothing that you can do for her. I will also need you to call the Silent Brothers here for we will need them. Especially Brother Zachariah." Magnus flinched inwardly. He hadn't told them everything but he was sure that they did not need to know that he was going to speak with their ancestors about Victoria.

The Silent Brothers and Immortals had arrived at exactly the same time. Nicholas and Perenelle's faces were pale as they entered the Institute. The last time that Magnus had seen them was seven years ago. There seemed to be new lines on both their faces and new streaks of gray throughout Nicholas' black hair. Then came Sophie. She had aged well over the thousands of years she had been alive though she had finally accepted immortality at the age of twenty-one. Her blue eyes were wide but her jaw was set and she seemed determined to do anything necessary to help Victoria. Magnus knew that she would do anything for her. He let his eyes follow the girl as she ran up the stairs in silver stiletto heels. He could see that she was losing control of her aura as she flickered between a young woman in jeans and a leather jacket to a fierce woman in silver armor who would give Boadicea a run for her money. Then came Josh. He is Marethyu he became death and the destroyer of worlds the day the Danu Talis fell. His left hand was now a silver hook and he had black robe on the hid all of his face except his striking blue eyes. He ran up the steps after his sister quickly shedding the black robe as he did revealing tattered jeans, a worn out gray sweatshirt, and black converse.

First out of the Silent Brothers' carriage was Brother Zachariah, also known as James Carstairs. His dark eyes met Magnus'. They were full of concern and sorrow. This was his ancestor after all though the wards of the Institute did not know. Not even Victoria. Jem was never cured. He'd become a Silent Brother. Though he was different than all of them. Jem still had hair, eyes, and his mouth was never sewn shut because he still had hope that they would find a cure for disease that was forced upon him. Just as it had been forced upon Victoria. Brother Zachariah was dressed in parchment colored robes and glided up the stairs without a sound. Magnus quickly retreated up the stairs to the Institutes doors until someone called his name from behind.

"Are you Magnus Bane?" Magnus slowly turned around and saw a teenage boy with sun-streaked blonde hair and light blue eyes. He had and athletic build and was around six feet tall wearing and orange shirt that said Camp Half-Blood on it. He also had a quiver of arrows thrown over his back along with a pack that hung on one of his shoulders. Magnus squinted his eyes.

"Depends on who's asking," he replied coolly.

"My name is Will. William Solace. I- I'm dating Victoria," the boy stuttered.

This was not good. Magnus took in a sharp breath. Magnus may know about Victoria and Will's relationship, but he knew for a fact that no one in the Institute because that would be awkward for everyone. Magnus ran down the stairs toward Will and grabbed his sleeve.

"Do you know how stupid it was of you to come here?" Magnus whispered to him sharply. Will just replied with a blank look until his eyes finally focused on Magnus' and slowly they widened. Magnus let out an irritated sigh. "These people that Victoria lives with have no idea that you exist. They have no idea what you are either."

"She lives here with other people?" Will asked.

"Right, she wouldn't have told you either," Magnus muttered to himself while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Great. This is just fabulous. You might as well come in. I guess you all need to find out about each other eventually. Come on." Magnus did not release his hold on Will's shirt he quickly marched him through the halls of the Institute to the infirmary.

When they walked in they were met with silence as the Immortals gazed in horror at their friend who was now laying in more blood that had begun to drip on the stone floors. Already more than half of her hair was black. They didn't have much time left. Will raced to Victoria's side pushing Isabelle out of the way and grasped her burning hand. The girl rose quickly and looked as if she were about to take her electrum whips and flay him to pieces, but Alec just lay a hand on her shoulder. Slowly all signs of anger left her face was replaced with grief and sorrow as she stepped into her older brother's arms. The only time that Magnus had seen Isabelle break down was when her younger brother Max had been murdered. Now her parabati's life hung in the balance, and Isabelle could feel Victoria slipping away as Sebastian's poison took over Victoria's body and mind.

Nicholas cleared his throat. "I believe some introductions are in order if we are all going to be working together don't you agree Magnus?"

Magnus replied a mere nod of his head before crossing his arms over his blood-spattered white t-shirt. "I would like you all to meet Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel and Sophie Newman and Marethyu." A few gasps came from the Shadowhunters. Marethyu just gave a shaky smile before letting his eyes rest on Victoria once more. "The young people standing opposite to you are Isabelle and Alec Lightwood, Clary Morgenstern, and Jace Herondale."

"Nice to meet you," Clary replied quietly. She kept a tight grasp on Jace's hand even though it would be causing her physical pain seeing as Jace still had heavenly fire in his system. The two sat on the to the right of Victoria's and Alec and Isabelle stood next to them. Isabelle still drawing strength from her older brother.

"These are the Sil-" Magnus began.

_We can introduce ourselves Bane, _Brother Zachariah Said. The Immortals jumped at having someone else's voice in their head, and Will... well he didn't seem to be interested in introductions.

_I am a Silent Brother. I am called Brother Zachariah, _continued the same voice. He pulled back the hood of his robe revealing the young and youthful face of Jem, Brother Zachariah, with the two runes carved on his cheekbones. There was only one person left to introduce. "This young man is William Solace."

"And who exactly is he?" Clary asked nodding in Will's direction.

"Well...," he glanced toward the Shadowhunters, "he's Victoria's... boyfriend."

"Victoria doesn't have a boyfriend," Isabelle protested. That was when Will finally looked up.

"I am pretty sure that I am her boyfriend, but I don't know who you are."

"Victoria would have told us if..." Alec began.

"Would she have Alec? Look at how many secrets she keeps. Do you really think that Victoria even tells us half of what really goes on in her life? She disappears for weeks at a time without so much as a letter or a phone call, and then she returns all happy and full of smiles and tells us not to worry about it. We never worry about it because that's the way it's always been. It's been Victoria against unknown dangers. It had always been her against everything!" Jace shouted, but quickly fell silent for he knew he was not helping the situation at hand.

"And I also think Victoria would have told me if she lived in some sort of crypt with people who are not her family," Will continued even after being interrupted. "Because I know for a fact that she has no living relatives who are related to her by blood!" Things were becoming tense between the two parties.

"What are you talking about Solace?" Alec growled. "She has the Enrights. Though I wouldn't actually call them family."

"So she hasn't told you who her real father is?" Will asked. Alec opened his mouth to reply.

_I believe that there will be enough time to trade stories after we get Victoria well gentlemen,_ Brother Zachariah put in. Will's face sunk. Magnus let out another sigh. Teenagers are all attitude all the time. They are always trying one up each other. Honestly it could get quite exhausting.

"I may have something that can help Victoria," Will muttered. "Though I don't know exactly what her condition is, but normally for people like us it will heal any wound."

_What exactly do you mean 'people like us', William? _Brother Zachariah asked.

"Demigods. Half-god. Half-human." Will examined the blank expressions that were all around him. "She didn't tell you?"

_As far as we know there are no such things as gods. Only the God of which the angels serve of whom we are descended from. _Brother Zachariah answered.

"Did she tell you that?" Isabelle spat at him. William flinched but continued with his explanation.

"It's called _ambrosia and nectar_, or the food of the gods." He pulled some golden squares out of his bag and a bottle full of golden liquid.

_It is said to grant immortality, is it not? _Brother Zachariah asked.

"Supposedly, but that has never happened before." Will went to pour some in Victoria's mouth.

"Wait!" Magnus lunged forward and grabbed the bottle from the boy's hand.

"Are you insane or just plain stupid?" Magnus shouted.

"What the hell is your problem?" Will stood up from his kneeling position next to Victoria's bedside.

"My problem is," Magnus said as calmly as he could, "that this stuff that you were just about to feed her very much may cause her more pain. The blood that is now running through her veins is destroying every good thing about her. She drank from the Infernal Cup." This statement he directed towards Zachariah. "She has been taking _yin fen _to slow down the process." Brother Zachariah shut his eyes as if trying to fend off the memories of being dependent on that drug for most of his life.

"What is the Infernal Cup, Magnus?" Sophie asked. Up until now that Immortals had been quiet as if trying to process what was in front of them.

"The Infernal Cup is a demonic version of the Mortal Cup. It will turn anyone human, Nephilim, werewolf, vampire, or faerie into a demonic version of oneself, and then they will be under the control of Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern." Sophie brought her hand to her mouth as her blue eyes widened in shock.

"We can't let that happen. She would wreak havoc on the world if she were to be under his control. Killing hundreds of thousands. There is no telling what he will use all of her abilities for," replied Nicholas. He seemed determined as ever to find this cure.

_What makes you so sure that you will find a cure this time when so many have tried and failed in the past? _Brother Elijah asked.

"For one you've never had Death on your side," Marethyu began, "and we Immortals tend to get things done when it comes to those we care about." Nicholas gave a stiff nod.

"So what do we do?" Alec asked.

"There is information I need..." Magnus was cut off by Victoria's blood curdling scream.


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Victoria

I stood by my bedside watching everyone huddle in around me. Will was there. Chiron must have told him. I wish that he hadn't because now it is going to be very messy should I wake. I didn't know how they would go about finding this cure, but I had faith in Magnus. He was always there for me in the darkest of times and would always bring me back to the light. I wanted to be just like him and help others who needed it. Even those who didn't deserve it.

A hush had fallen over them all as I screamed. There was a searing pain through my brain as images began to flash before my eyes.

There was Annabeth and Percy gripping onto the edge of a hole filled with webs their eyes filled with panic. Percy let go of the ledge and they fell. Then there was Jace fighting off demon after demon with Alec behind him keeping the demons that were surrounding them both off of each others backs as Parabati should. A demon approached from the sky and picked Jace up by the head. There was a sickening crunch and I knew he was dead. Alec let out and agonizing scream, gripped his heart, and fell to his knees. He was quickly overrun. Then there was Isabelle and Clary fighting side-by-side. A flicker of shock registered on Clary's face. In that moment they too were overrun. Then Will, Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank, Hazel, every single demigod, and every single shadowhunter.

Then there was only Sebastian and a women standing atop the piles of bodies. The women was me except with black hair and my eyes were now an icy green with flecks of black. If I didn't know any better I would've mistaken myself for Gaea.

"We have done well," I said my voice all gravelly and low. It sounded as if mountains were shaking. It could not be. "Victoria Carstairs was was always a strong spirit, but now I have broken her with your help." A look of regret filled Sebastian's eyes, but was quickly replaced with a blank stare as he gazed across the battlefield littered with his enemies.

There was a silence throughout the world. I could feel it. Everything and everyone was gone. Somehow I knew that some had escaped alive and now lived somewhere else, but I also knew that this was not what Gaea wanted. She wanted to make the humans suffer and now they were gone. Annihilated by the demons that she had aligned herself with. All of her children were dead. Defeated and suffering in the pits of Tartarus. They would rise again. Not now but soon. They would reform. The Doors of Death had not been closed. Everyone had failed to defeat her. Gaea let her gaze travel across the horizon and let out a low laugh.

"I control all of this now! Everything is mine!"

"Was it worth it?" Sebastian whispered. His black eyes were filled with pain. How could he feel pain?

"Pardon, my child? If you wish to speak you must not mutter," Gaea reprimanded him.

"I asked, 'Was it worth it?'" He raised his eyes to meet her gaze. His eyes were now filled with a fire that I had never seen in him. The sun cast a glow around him making him look like and angel of death. "Was it worth it to kill everyone on this planet so you could rule it? You do realize that now that everyone is dead there is no one left to rule over. No one to control. There is no one that you can inflict pain on in revenge. There is nothing here! Everything and everyone is gone!" He spat. Gaea didn't even flinch.

"Has the little boy gotten cold feet? You, who claimed to have no emotion, now regret taking revenge on those who killed you and labeled you as someone... no something evil because you were not like them." She smiled. It was not my smiled, but one that showed malice and hate. She darted forward and wrapped her hands around his neck and twisted. There was a sickening crack and his body fell to the ground. "There is no weakness in my family," she whispered menacingly to his corpse. "And as for you my dear," she looked directly at me, "Victoria. I believe you need to get better so that this can all play out as you have seen. I need you in tip-top shape for all of this," she smiled and place a finger in the middle of my forehead. A searing white pain burst through my mind. It wasn't over. I felt something lodge into the corner of my mind and nestle in. Gaea let out a low laugh. "Pretty soon you will be mine, and we will be one. No matter what you try there is no stopping me."

Then the vision was gone.


End file.
